The present invention relates to a color image copying apparatus, and more particularly, to the copying apparatus capable of compatibly using an original, an intermediate mask member, and a positive color film as original image carrying member as well as using as an image projector.
Conventionally, there has been proposed a color image copying apparatus in which a color image of a positive color film or slide (e.g. a 35 mm slide) is projected on a monitoring screen by providing a reflector in a light path extending from the positive colo film to a color photosensitive recording medium so as to obtain a monitoring color image on the screen.
Generally, a photosensitive recording medium generates color upon receipt of each of blue, green and red color lights, and it is common knowledge that the amount of exposure required is dependent on each of the colors. For example, in a photosensitive pressure-sensitive sheet of the type carrying color microcapsules, as shown in FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings, large amount of exposure is required so as to render the microcapsules sensitive especially to red light. To this end, it has been proposed to provide a color light control filter in the light path extending from the light source to the photosensitive pressure-sensitive sheet for controlling the amount of light to be transmitted through the filter with respect to each of the color lights. Thus a particular color, e.g. red, can be exposed more than other colors in an attempt to make a color balance of a resultant color image on the photosensitive recording medium. Incidentally, the filter is disposed on the light path between the light source and the movable reflector in order to make the entire apparatus compact in size. To the contrary, assuming that the filter is disposed adjacent to the photosensitive recording medium, the filter should be necessarily large, thus making the whole apparatus large in size.
However, the above-mentioned apparatus has a problem that although the colors of the image formed on the photosensitive recording medium can be adequately well balanced by the filter, only a particular color of the image projected on the monitorinf screen would stand out clearly to degrade monitoring color balance. That is, the contents of the positive color film would be projeted on the screen with the color tone different from that of the original image due to the existance of the filter at the light path. Consequently it is impossible to monitor the actual image on positive color film in correct color tone, and hence the apparatus is difficult to use as a color transparency projector.
Further, in one conventional image recording apparatus of this kind, copying is carried out by using trichromatic resolution members, or with utilizing light directly reflected at an original or transmitted therethrough. In the former type, color correction filters are used in addition to basic red, green and blue filters. In order to obtain a final output color image having excellent color tone balance, various kinds of color correction filters must be prepared, and as a result, resultant copying apparatus becomes bulky and costly.